{"id":66981,"date":"2016-03-30T13:08:37","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T11:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/joint-statement-between-japan-and-the-republic-of-zimbabwe-on-the-occasion-of-the-official-working-visit-to-japan-by-h-e-mr-robert-gabriel-mugabe-president-of-the-republic-of-zimbabwe\/"},"modified":"2016-03-30T13:08:37","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T11:08:37","slug":"joint-statement-between-japan-and-the-republic-of-zimbabwe-on-the-occasion-of-the-official-working-visit-to-japan-by-h-e-mr-robert-gabriel-mugabe-president-of-the-republic-of-zimbabwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/joint-statement-between-japan-and-the-republic-of-zimbabwe-on-the-occasion-of-the-official-working-visit-to-japan-by-h-e-mr-robert-gabriel-mugabe-president-of-the-republic-of-zimbabwe\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint Statement between Japan and the Republic of Zimbabwe on the Occasion of the Official Working Visit to Japan by H.E. Mr. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO, Japan, March 30, 2016\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ — <\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0H.E. Mr. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, and First Lady Dr. Grace Mugabe paid an Official Working Visit to Japan from March 27 to 31, 2016 at the invitation of the Government of Japan.<\/p>\n

\n

2.\u00a0H.E. Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, and H.E. President Mugabe held a bilateral summit meeting in Tokyo on March 28, 2016. Prime Minister Abe welcomed President Mugabe\u2019s visit to Japan following his visit last year on the occasion of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, and paid respect to President Mugabe\u2019s recent active roles as the Chairman of the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).<\/p>\n

Bilateral Cooperation<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Affirming universal values which both countries share, the two leaders welcomed that long-standing friendly and cooperative relations have been nurtured between Japan and Zimbabwe in both bilateral and multilateral contexts, and shared the commitment to further strengthen their bilateral relationship. In that context, the two leaders welcomed the recent high level visits between the two countries and also shared a common intention to continue bilateral dialogue at all levels, and to elaborate mechanisms for consultation on economic, technical and other cooperation.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Prime Minister Abe highly commended efforts of the Government of Zimbabwe on economic recovery including the \u201cZimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIMASSET),\u201d and expressed Japan\u2019s continuous support for Zimbabwe\u2019s efforts for development, following last year\u2019s grant aid of up to 1.791 billion yen (approximately 15 million US dollars) for the Project for Irrigation Development for Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Prime Minister Abe stated that Japan developed its new country assistance policy for Zimbabwe under which Japan has decided on (1) grant aid to Zimbabwe for economic and social development, including infrastructural improvement amounting 600 million yen (approximately 5 million US dollars), and (2) implementation of a preparatory study for Zimbabwe-Zambia road improvement, which is important for Zimbabwe\u2019s North-South Corridor. Prime Minister Abe also stated that consideration on assistance to respond to the severe food shortages in Zimbabwe that has resulted from drought would be started. President Mugabe expressed his gratitude for Japan\u2019s cooperation.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0The two leaders welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Zimbabwe and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) on the mining sector in September last year. They also welcomed the progress of cooperation, including human resource development, in this area between the two countries.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0The two leaders shared the view that both Governments would make efforts to promote trade and investment between Japan and Zimbabwe. Prime Minister Abe welcomed the progress on the establishment of Special Economic Zones in Zimbabwe. President Mugabe briefed Prime Minister Abe on his Government\u2019s efforts to enhance the ease of doing business in Zimbabwe, and clarified Zimbabwe\u2019s Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Policy. President Mugabe highly commended Japanese technology and products and stated his resolve to continue efforts to invite investment from Japan to Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Sharing the recognition that people-to-people exchanges are important for mutual understanding, the two leaders shared the view that they would enhance people-to-people exchanges through programs such as African Business Education Initiative for Youth (ABE Initiative), Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) training programs and sporting exchanges. In this connection, the two leaders welcomed the Memorandum made between the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and the University of Zimbabwe and the opening of opportunities for Zimbabwean teachers to apply for scholarships for the in-service teacher training program offered by the Government of Japan.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Prime Minister Abe briefed President Mugabe on Japan\u2019s policy of \u201cProactive Contribution to Peace\u201d and Japan\u2019s willingness to redouble its efforts to contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world.<\/p>\n

Multilateral Cooperation<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0The two leaders welcomed that the next Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) would be held in August this year for the first time in Africa and shared their intention to strengthen cooperation between the two countries toward the success of TICAD VI. Prime Minister Abe expressed his view that TICAD VI would be an important opportunity to support Africa\u2019s development agenda, Agenda 2063, and Japan would demonstrate concrete contributions which are distinctive to Japan, such as quality infrastructure investment and human resource development, strengthening Public-Private Partnership and engagement of the private sector, under the principle of human security. Prime Minister Abe also expressed his expectation for President Mugabe\u2019s contribution to TICAD VI. Responding to Prime Minister Abe\u2019s invitation, President Mugabe highly appreciated Japan\u2019s contribution and stated that he would attend TICAD VI.<\/p>\n

11.\u00a0Reaffirming that the United Nations Security Council does not fully reflect the realities of the international community in the 21st century, both leaders shared the recognition that the reform of the Security Council should be expeditiously advanced to improve its effectiveness, transparency and representativeness and that such reform is long overdue. The two leaders emphasized the importance of building upon the recent developments in the Intergovernmental Negotiations and to move the process forward including through increased interactions and consultations. The two leaders also reaffirmed the importance of the United Nations General Assembly as the most representative organ of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

12.\u00a0Prime Minister Abe and President Mugabe acknowledged the need to enhance their cooperation for addressing broad challenges in international fora such as climate change, countering terrorism and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The two leaders also noted their contributions to peacekeeping operations, and concurred on the need for redoubled efforts to promote peace in the world.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/p>\n

13.\u00a0President Mugabe expressed his appreciation to Prime Minister Abe and the Government of Japan for the warm hospitality accorded to him and his delegation. President Mugabe wished Prime Minister Abe success in hosting the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

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TOKYO, Japan, March 30, 2016\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ — 1.\u00a0H.E. Mr. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, and First Lady Dr. Grace Mugabe paid an Official Working Visit to Japan from March 27 to 31, 2016 at the invitation of the Government of Japan. 2.\u00a0H.E. Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[428,4585,830],"class_list":{"0":"post-66981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africa","8":"tag-apo","9":"tag-news","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}